Author Archives: Kymodo

The importance of having quality management software for your business can’t be understated. Well integrated fitness club software very quickly becomes a core part of a business’s operations and staff come to rely on it for everything from booking and taking payments to storing vital member data and attendance tracking. With this in mind, it’s essential to know exactly what to look out for when investing in this tech.

But all management software isn’t cut out of the same cloth. Each one has its own set of features and benefits, so it pays to know ahead of time exactly what features you’ll need and which ones you’re best off without. In this blog, we cover software must-haves that are specifically suited to the fitness industry.

Simplicity

Learning how to use a new system can be time-consuming, and since we’re all so time poor, it helps if you can invest in a system that’s easy to learn and simple to use. Unfortunately, this can be hard to tell by just reading about the system on a website. You have to actually get in there and play around with the trial version and access the tutorials and learning resources to get a grasp of exactly what you’re in for. If the software isn’t easy to use, you could actually waste more time than you’ll save.

Tailored Features for Your Specific Business Type

You’re likely to come across various companies offering business management software, including some who claim to be a ‘one size fits all’ solution, but be warned. Every business and industry operates very differently from each other, and they all have their own set of needs and requirements. That’s why it’s far better to hunt down software that specifically created to suit the industry you work in.

You could even go a step further and knuckle right down to finding software that suits the specific type of business your in. Not all businesses have that luxury; however, if you’re in the fitness industry, you’re in luck with Clubworx. Our software caters to gyms, PT studios, martial arts, yoga and pilates studios with features that each of these businesses relies on day to day.

A Flexible & Clean Interface

Do you feel restricted when using your software, with features not laid out in a way that’s logical and productive for you? Software that includes a flexible interface where you can drag and drop tools where you please, into a layout and order that suits you, is the best way to get around this.

Pages that are cluttered with too much information, buttons and options can also make it a lot harder for you to get your head around what you’re supposed to be doing on the page. Content on each page should be laid out logically with a clean and easy to read design, so you intuitively know what each page is for and what it’s functionality is.

You may also find that you’re paying for software that includes features you don’t even need or use. You don’t need us to tell you that’s a waste of money. To get around this, it’s best to choose software that allows you to only pay for the features you need.

Automated Payment System

If you’re in business, you probably want to get paid and make sure that the money comes through in the fastest and most efficient way possible. If that’s the case, you’ll probably want an automated payment system in place. Having club management software that can be integrated with your payment processes will make running your business so much easier because everything you need to run, manage and control your business will all be found in one place.

A quality membership software company should have the facilities to help you set up an automated payment feature if you don’t have one already. Once this is up and running, you’ll have recurring credit card and check payments in place.

Booking Software

Whether you’re a gym, martial arts studio or yoga studio, your members will want to book in for classes and training sessions, and these days, members expect to have the ability to book these classes in themselves. So, if you don’t have some form of booking software in place, you’re definitely behind the eight ball.

To meet this demand, your website should feature an integrated class timetable that can be accessed by your members and set up through your club management software. Through this timetable, they can make the booking.

Attendance Tracking

One of the best ways to tell if you’re business is receiving the numbers and the level of growth you’re after is to take advantage of attendance tracking tools. Attendance tracking is another feature to look out for in your fitness club management software because it allows you to see student attendance levels instantly, thus giving you the opportunity to address any obvious attendance downfalls as they arise.

Insights and Analysis

With so much information filtering through your system that directly impacts how your business is run and performing, it really would be a waste if it just sat there doing nothing. Any good management software should spit this data out in the form of helpful and easy to read insights and analysis. With this data, you have the opportunity to make future projections about everything from earnings and debts to student attendance.

Training and Support

Do you know what kind of training and support will be in place once you’re up and running with your new software? There’s nothing worse than being left out in the cold to fend for yourself once your software is purchased and downloaded. Questions and issues are bound to pop up, so there needs to be a support system in place. This should include online training and tutorials as well as unlimited support from the software company both over phone and email.

Clubworx Has All the Features You Need and More

If you’re in the fitness industry and on the hunt for the perfect club management software, Clubworx is made to fit your industry with all the features you need to run your business effectively. Read through our websiteand start your free trial to see for yourself how our software will dramatically improve the way you do business.

As a gym owner or personal trainer, it’s our job to help our members reach their health and fitness goals and keep them motivated throughout their training. But that can be a lot easier said than done. Everyone is different, and each person is motivated in different ways, so it can be hard to know how to ignite that spark. If you’re stuck and need new ideas on how to motivate your members, try some of these tactics out.

1. Show Genuine Interest in Your Gym Members

People want to feel like they belong somewhere and that others genuinely care about them, which is why your gym needs to be a welcoming space your members will enjoy coming to.

But the level of interest you show in your members should go beyond learning about their health and fitness goals. Ask how their day has been, learn about their interests and get to know them as a person. That way they will see you as so much more than a gym. Your gym is a haven and a sanctuary they’ll be happy to be part of every day.

A relationship like this doesn’t come out of thin air. You can start developing a rapport with your members by ensuring all employees actively learn their names. You could also put names and pictures of your staff on a bulletin board in the gym, so members know the names of each trainer and will feel more comfortable approaching them for help.

2. Encourage Members to Share Their Experiences and Achievements with Others

Every member should feel proud about their health, fitness or weight loss achievements and they should be shared and celebrated. Why? Because the validation and satisfaction they gain can be euphoric and this will push your members to continue smashing those goals so that they can replicate that feeling again and again.

When your members are able to share in their experiences and achievements, it creates a sense of community and turns your gym into a tight-knit group. Through this, genuine and long-lasting relationships can form between members. When true friendship is found, the bond members have with your gym and the people in it becomes stronger, and their loyalty grows.

3. Positive Reinforcement and Incentives

Many people are motivated when they know they’ll get something out of the effort they put in. While you may say that the weight and fitness results alone should be enough of an incentive, this may not necessarily be the case for everyone.

Sometimes shorter-term incentives will do just the trick, especially when your members are not getting the results as quickly as they had hoped for. They could gain incentives for a number of reasons such as working out for a set period of time or reaching a key milestone in their health and fitness goals for example.

Each time small milestones towards their goals are reached, they should be recognised with rewards. Some rewards could include a special treat, movie tickets a discount voucher or a special celebration event. Choosing the right incentives will depend on each member and understanding what drives them to succeed.

4. Real World Promotions and Reminders

Once your members are outside the four walls of the gym, there are so many things that can easily lure them away from their regular workout. You need to try and mitigate this by putting reminders and information out there for your members to see while out and about in the real world. This can include emails full of advice, tips, news, and other valuable advice from your gym. Social media pages and groups where members can interact with your gym and each other. Advertising with special targeted offers to help boost retention.

If members are reminded and educated about the benefits of maintaining a regular workout regime, they’re far more likely to keep coming back to your gym.

5. Build a Culture Where Everyone Helps and Supports Each Other

One of the keys to keeping gym goers motivated is to have a group of other like-minded people to work out with. While there may be a lucky few who have strong enough willpower to get themselves to the gym every day without an external push and source of motivation, in reality most need it to keep up the momentum.

By having a support system that extends beyond the trainers, members will feel like one of the team. Being able to share thoughts, goals, results and motivations with other members just like them can be so rewarding, and once that bond has formed, members can help each other push further towards their goals.

While trainers alone can give members the push they need, fellow members are more relatable. Therefore they can become an even more powerful motivation source. Once you’ve created a sense of community at your gym, your fitness centre will be a place where members can come to socialise, enjoy themselves and work towards their fitness goals together.

A great way to make a sense of community thrive in your gym is to plan and organise social events for members. Publicly recognising each other’s achievements in front of other fellow members can also help with this.

Find Motivation to Improve Your Fitness Business with Clubworx

So now you should have a better idea on how to keep your members motivated, but who is motivating you as a business owner to keep growing and improving your fitness business?

At Clubworx, our simple gym management software is so easy to use and packed full of features that you can’t help but feel motivated. You can do so much with this software, and you’ll have that much more time that you’ll be inspired to get more out of your business. Read our FAQ page to find out more or head to our contact page to get in touch.

The lead generation process is made so much simpler for you thanks to Clubworx. Any leads generated through your landing page or Facebook leads ad will automatically be collected and stored in the Clubworx CRM. You can then access this information at any time and utilise additional tools to further push people through your lead funnel.

So how is this possible? You can achieve all this and more and create a stellar lead funnel with the help of Zapier.

About Lead Funnels

A lead funnel is all about getting leads, nurturing them and then turning those leads into customers. Every business needs a reliable lead generation program in place, and by combining the power and functionality of Clubworx and Zapier, you’ll be running a lead generation machine in no time.

For more in-depth details and a comprehensive step-by-step guide on implementing the entire sales process with Clubworx, read ‘How to Build & Execute a Sales Process in Clubworx’

What is Zapier?

Zapier allows you to integrate a huge range of 3rd party applications into your Clubworx system to build powerful integration workflows. Within Zapier a set of ‘zaps’ can be implemented with your Clubworx software to make your lead generation and nurturing process so much easier.

Connect Clubworx with Zapier for Each Lead Funnel Stage

There are three key stages of the lead funnel process where Zapier can be utilised – generating leads, promoting to prospects and retaining members.

To connect any compatible programs with Clubworx, simply head to Zapier.com, click ‘make a zap’, search for the zap you would like to access and follow the remaining on-screen prompts to integrate your chosen lead funnel tool with Clubworx.

An example detailing how to follow this process for a Facebook Lead Ad can be found in ‘How to Build & Execute a Sales Process in Clubworx’.

So what zaps can you pair with Clubworx to help with your lead funnel process? Read on to find out how you can make the most of Zapier.

Generating Leads

One of the most effective ways to generate leads online is by creating a landing page and driving traffic to it. A number of zaps can be used to collect these leads and input them directly into Clubworx.

123 Form Builder – With Zapier you can add 123 Form Builder submissions to Clubworx as prospects. A form should always be included on a landing page to gain contact information from your leads. This web form builder allows you to create a form that suits your needs which can be filled out by prospects on your landing page. Once the form is filled out, their details will show up in Clubworx.

Typeform – With Zapier you can add Typeform entries to Clubworx as prospects. Just like 123 Form Builder, Typeform offers online form building as well as online surveys. The data entered is then seamlessly transferred over to Clubworx for you to access and use as you wish.

Facebook – Facebook ads is one of the best ways to direct leads to your landing page. With Zapier you can add new leads from Facebook lead ads to Clubworx as prospects. To do this, go onto Zapier.com to create a zap between Facebook lead ads and Clubworx. Once it’s all set up, when anyone opts in for your Facebook lead ad, they’ll automatically get imported into Clubworx as a prospect.

Prospects

Once you obtain prospects, the next thing you need to do is to convert them into members. Zapier has a number of zaps you can use to help with this.

MailChimp – With Zapier, it is possible to automatically include new Clubowrx prospects into your MailChimp email list as subscribers. Once these prospects are in the system, you can then promote to them further as part of an email subscription.

Constant Contact – New Clubworx prospects can be added to Constant Contact which implements powerful email marketing to deliver great looking emails. Constant Contact is an industry-leading email editor that’s in direct competition with MailChimp, so if you’re yet to employ an email marketing tool, Constant Contact is another worthwhile contender.

Google Sheets – Once you’ve gathered new prospects in Clubworx, you may want to access tools to keep your prospects list organised. With Zapier you can instantly transfer your new prospects over to Google Sheets – an easy to use online spreadsheet tool.

SendPulse – With Zapier you can subscribe new Clubworx prospects to SendPulse. SendPulse helps to increase your email, SMS, web push and SMTP open rates with artificial intelligence, hyper-personalisation and predictive analysis. Once your prospects are subscribed to SendPulse, you can expect your audience to receive tailored messages that are more likely to convert your prospects into customers.

Retention

So, you have converted prospects into members, but to make the whole onboarding process worthwhile, it really pays to put measures in place to help retain your members long term. Some of these zaps can help with this.

MailChimp – With Zapier, new Clubworx members can be added to MailChimp as subscribers. That way, all members will automatically receive regular emails from your gym or fitness club filled with helpful information and advice. This will help to nurture your current members further and provide added value to their membership.

SendPulse – SendPulse is just as relevant for current members as it is for prospects. Add Clubworx members to SendPulse as subscribers and instantly give your members content that’s valuable to them across multiple platforms with integrated optimisation.

Slack – Send Slack notifications for new Clubworx members. Slack is a new social tool your gym can consider to help maintain retention and generate a sense of community within your club. By taking advantage of Zapier you can send relevant Slack notifications from Clubworx to members who have access to your gym-specific slack group.

Google Sheets – Add new Clubworx members to Google Sheets as rows with Zapier. A spreadsheet is always handy to have when keeping track of your members. Having details for all your members in a single spreadsheet helps you gain a better understanding of your members and allows you to keep track of member numbers overall.

Need help using Zapier to create effective lead funnels for your gym? We want to make sure you are harnessing the full capabilities of Clubworx, so we’re more than happy to walk you through the process and provide advice.

The ultimate goal for any business is to obtain paying clients who will ideally become long-term, high-value members. But getting to this point requires the development of a sales process, and this can be done very easily by building a simple sales funnel for your organisation that should be followed religiously.

A sales funnel encompasses the journey you take web visitors through to try and convert them into a customer. A sales funnel can be as simple or complicated as you like, but in our example here, we’ll keep it simple.

In the health and fitness industry, a well thought out sales funnel should be the lifeblood of your business and the core that all your leads and new members flow out from. But if you’re a new business owner or unfamiliar with sales processes in general, you probably have no idea where to start. That’s why we’ve developed this simple how-to guide so you can create a basic sales funnel that’s perfect for your business.

To keep our example sales funnel as simple as possible, we’ve stuck with three simple steps:

Opt-In Offer

Promotion & Landing Page

Nurture Your Leads

Opt-In Offer

To start generating traffic to your website and business, there needs to be some type of opt-in offer to attract interest to your business.

The most successful sales funnels include multiple offers divided into two key offer types – low-threshold and high-threshold offers. Low-threshold offers involve requesting basic contact information in return for added value. This type of offer requires minimal commitment. A high-threshold offer on the other hand usually involves the person signing up to something. For a high-threshold offer to be effective, the person would need to be interested in what you do already and come on board.

Consider the type of offer you want to provide. Keep in mind that whatever offer you choose, it must be irresistible – providing such an extraordinary amount of value that your target audience can’t say no.

Stumped for offer ideas? Here’s a few you could consider:

Low Threshold Offers involve requesting basic contact information such as email and / or phone number in return for something that provides added value such as:

Downloadable fitness or nutrition guide

A competition to win a prize

Email subscription full of useful health and nutrition information.

High Threshold Offers usually requires people to sign up or pass on their information to then convert them to sign up. Some ways to do this include:

Discounted membership price

Free consultation

Free or discounted sign up

Free trial period

Referral offers

Landing Page & Promotion Setup

Once you’ve decided on one or more offers, each offer should have its own landing page that directs from a social or online ad. The landing page is the first impression web visitors will have of your business and offer, so take your time to get the visuals and message right.

After people submit their contact information onto the landing page, they should then be taken to a thank you page immediately. On the thank you page you could incentivise them further with links to blogs on your website or include a call to action to get in touch. The thank you page should also tell them what will happen next – whether it be a follow-up phone call, email or clicking on a download button.

With your landing page and thank you page set up, you need to attract web visitors toward that landing page, and this is done by implementing an online ad. When setting up the promotion on social media or AdWords remember to consider the following:

Platform – Will you promote on AdWords, social media or both?

Budget – How much are you willing to spend on each promotion?

Target Audience – Who is most likely to respond to each promotion?

Ad Duration – Is the offer only valid for a limited time?

Creative – What type of visual content will you use for the ad?

Nurture Your Leads

Building a sales funnel is about setting up a natural set of steps to grow your following and gain new clients. Once an opt-in offer is developed, the next focus for your sales funnel is to nurture your leads and turn them into fully fledged members and even brand ambassadors.

You will need to nurture your web visitors differently depending on whether they opted in for your low threshold or high threshold offer.

Nurturing Low Threshold Leads – Once you gather leads from your low threshold offers, you’ll need to take additional steps to nudge them further towards membership.

Utilise their contact information to send useful and informative emails about your fitness business direct to their inbox. Remarket high-threshold offers to them. Encourage them to follow your social media pages and read your blogs for further brand exposure. Tactics like this can help get these prospects across the line.

Nurturing High Threshold Leads – If these leads have already signed on to become members, your next focus is to keep them on as members long-term or encourage them to increase their spend on your business.

You can do this by sending targeted emails focusing on the benefits of upgraded memberships, setting up a Facebook group to generate valuable community interaction or implementing further value-added benefits within the facility. Simple initiatives like membership events, discounts or other added goodies and bonuses for members can help turn them into brand ambassadors.

Nurturing is a process that should take place continually. Give your members a reason to stick around and maintain their membership.

Build the Perfect Sales Funnel for Your Business

Whether you own a gym, yoga studio, martial arts studio or any other form of fitness centre, a sales funnel like this one is a good place to start and can easily be adapted to suit your type of business.

A sales funnel can vary in any number of ways and include many more involved steps. But with a simple framework in place to start with, you will easily be able to build a more complex strategy onto it further down the track that’s fine-tuned to suit your business processes and goals.

Whether you’re a brand new business or well established, you should never underestimate the importance of choosing the right club management system for your gym or fitness centre! With so many management systems out there to choose from, it can be hard to know where to start when trying to pick out the right one for your business.

That’s why we’ve come up with the ultimate 5 step plan to help you make the best possible decision when choosing a club management system.

1. Have Processes in Place Before You Start Looking

How do you know what kind of system you need if you don’t already have set procedures in place to run your business? If you don’t have a solid business model with a specific way of doing things, no software platform will help.

Consider your current processes surrounding onboarding new members, membership sign-ups and retention, as well as scheduling classes. For many businesses, these things are tracked with handwritten or desktop spreadsheets.

While maintaining and updating all your gym memberships and scheduling details on a spreadsheet works perfectly fine, any new and modern gym shouldn’t rely on such an outdated way to run a business.

So, look at your current processes and figure out how they can be adapted to an effective system and come up with a list of features and functionalities that need to apply to your business.

2. Identify the Most Important Function the Software Needs to Have

Once you’ve come up with a list of all the features and functions you hope to have in your system, your next step is to prioritise them. While it would be wonderful to fit all your dream functionalities into one system, in reality, it’s pretty unlikely.

After you’ve ordered your list from the most to the least important, you’ll be well equipped to differentiate between similar systems to choose the one that meets your needs most.

3. Understand Your Budget

How much are you willing to pay for your gym software? You need to make sure the new system will be worth the price. Set a budget beforehand on how much you’re willing to spend and stick to it. Even if you find the right system and have to opt for a plan with fewer features than what you were hoping for, remember that as your business grows and you start making more money that you can always upgrade to a plan with all the bells and whistles. Finding a system that can grow with you is key.

On the other hand, if you’re avoiding buying a club management system altogether because of the cost, consider how much money you are losing by not having an efficient system in place – Or how much revenue you could be generating with the extra time an efficient system will provide!

4. Try it Out

So, you’ve narrowed down your options and you’ve found one or more systems that tick the boxes for your business. The next step is to take a free trial to see for yourself what the user interface looks like.

Once you’re in the system, play around with it and try out as many features as you can. Try replicating a current process in your business and see how the system performs. You should also try out what it’s like to create a membership and set class schedules on the calendar.

Once you start getting the hang of it, ask yourself: Is it easy to use?

You’ll want to consider the member facing features. Are they easy for your members to understand? Will your members be happy with this new experience or is it confusing to them? Your new system should be effortless for employees and members alike.

5. Make a Decision

Go back to the list you created in step 2 and evaluate your options after trying out one or more systems for yourself. Once you’ve narrowed it down to your top choice, before making the final decision, it also pays to watch tutorial videos and read user guide articles. That way you can know and understand the system you’ve chosen inside and out.

Although it will take some time to really get a feel for the system, the extra effort is worth it. After all, this is the system that will be managing your business – So you want to make sure you are using it to its full potential!

6. Setup

Make sure to take extra care when setting up your system to ensure everything is arranged correctly to suit your business perfectly. As part of the setup process, you will have to enter your vital business data into the system. Keep in mind, however, that garbage in is garbage out – Good data is key!

Put solid naming conventions in place straight away so everyone knows exactly what data is entered and what it means. This includes data for membership, classes, email templates, and anything else everyone needs to access and understand day to day.

Be mindful of the fact that the new system should be set up in a way that’s easy for anyone to use. You should be able to teach someone else how to use the system easily so they can be up and running with it asap.

For more information on how to set up your new system, check out this article:

**Include a link to the next article “How to Setup Your Club Management System”**

Try Out Clubworx

If you’re in the market for new club software, it just so happens that we have a pretty great piece of software of our own that’s built to suit many different business types in the fitness industry including Gyms, PT’s, yoga studios, and martial arts studios. Head over to our homepage to see what your gym management software can do for you, and if we’re lucky enough to be included on your short list – Start your free trial

7 Essential Resources for Martial Arts Schools

Every martial arts school needs a good set of resources to fall back on for help, guidance, advice and to ensure they keep improving and always stay across new trends in the industry. This corner of the fitness world has a very specific set of needs and business goals, and the martial arts community is always keen to share knowledge with each other and share in their passion for this sport.

We know that having the right software is just the first step in making your martial arts school the best it can be. So much more needs to be done to remain competitive and at Clubowrx we want your martial arts studio to harness the resources available to them to make this happen. Not sure where to look? We’ve come up with a varied collection of resources for you to utilise:

1. Martial Arts Media

Martial arts media is targeted solely at owners and managers of martial arts schools, providing invaluable blogs and podcasts on a wide range of topics such as promoting your martial arts school, attracting new members, developing a business strategy and more. Martial Arts Media also provides a free online workshop full of useful webinars that teach you how to attract, invite and retain members at your martial arts school.

2. Martial Arts Teachers’ Association

The Martial Arts Teachers’ Association (MATA) is an international professional association for martial arts school owners and instructors. By joining this association, you gain access to the Professional Martial Arts Instructor Certification Program as well as a tonne of helpful information about implementing proven systems for every aspect of your school, improving student retention and much more.

By gaining certification through MATA, you will learn how to work with children and parents and get the tools you need to rise above the competition in the extremely competitive martial arts sector.

3. NAPMA

As one of the industry’s oldest and most established trade association and operational marketing experts for the martial arts industry, NAPMA is a link you will absolutely want on your list. NAPMA aims to help you achieve your martial arts business goals faster, and with thousands of martial arts school operators worldwide relying on NAPMA to help them become a success, you’ll want to be on board.

To take full advantage of the resources on offer, become a member to receive Mastering the Martial Arts Business Magazine, NAPMA programs for martial arts students as well as inclusion in the NAPMA online martial arts schools directory.

4. Black Belt Magazine

Considered to be the World’s Leading martial arts resource, Black Belt Magazine is the go-to place to stay up to date about what’s trending in the industry. This magazine focuses on both traditional and mixed martial arts and is filled with articles from fun and entertaining pop culture topics, and interviews with martial arts icons right through to practical tips, advice and tutorials about training, techniques and more.

5. Blitz Australasian Martial Arts Magazine

Blitz is a magazine that specifically targets the Australasian market, but there’s plenty in here you’ll want to check out, no matter where your martial arts school is based.

The magazine shares insights from the world’s best martial artists, insights into unique styles, general self-defence and training tips and so much more.

The Facebook page is also worth a look as it shares plenty of interesting and entertaining posts that anyone in the martial arts industry can relate to.

6. Martial Arts Australia

The resources on Martial Arts Australia page aren’t just for Australian based schools because no other associations in the world does what they do. Not only does Martial Arts Australia provide useful business resources but they also openly tout the benefits of martial arts training to the public and consult with the government on behalf of the industry.

A group buying facility is set up here for Australian members who own and run martial arts schools. Members also have access to instructor courses, business mentoring, and above all else the schools who have membership gain extra credibility when issued with an instructor certification from this body.

7. Martial Arts Professional

As the title suggests, Martial Arts Professional is a publication that focuses on the business end of all things martial arts and is the ideal paper to subscribe to for any martial arts school owner. Their website also has plenty of articles and insights on topics such as martial arts management, marketing and education. And best of all you don’t have to pay a cent for these resources because subscribing to Martial Arts Professional is free!

Improve Your Martial Arts School

Once you’ve exhausted these resources, the next step you could take to improve the operations at your martial arts school is to implement our sophisticated martial arts software. Whether you’re located in Australia, USA, Canada or the UK, contact us today to find out how we can take your martial arts studio to the next step.

Do you want to share the incredible health benefits of yoga with others? Perhaps you and are inspired by the idea of earning a living doing what you love? Whatever the reason may be, starting your very own yoga studio is a big dream for many – but it’s an idea that very few follow through with. This is mainly because the steps to get there seem so daunting or they have no idea where to start.

If you want to succeed in your dream of owning a yoga studio business, read ahead to carve your path towards a new and fulfilling career.

Making A Decision

The number one mistake made by most yogis is that they start a yoga studio purely because they’re passionate about yoga and want to share this passion with others. This is a great beginning – but don’t forget that your yoga studio is also a business.

Be sure that your priorities are in the right place and that you are mentally and physically prepared for the hard work ahead to run your yoga studio. This will ensure your endeavours will be fruitful for many years to come. This includes keeping up with the other not-so-fun parts of running a business such as bookkeeping. If maintaining and documenting your invoices and receipts is not a strength for you, consider hiring a bookkeeper or accountant to help with this.

Planning

Thorough planning is the best way to turn your dream into reality.

This business plan gives you the opportunity to work out the finer details about your business including your business name, business hours, prices, and more.

Writing a business plan may seem intimidating – but there are many resources available on the topic, both via books and online, that can help you get started.

Budget

While in the planning stages you should also work out your estimated revenue, expenses, and the start-up costs involved to see if you have enough funds available to start your business successfully. If not, the business plan will be vital in helping you to obtain a business loan.

Be mindful that generating a decent income from a yoga studio takes time and you should anticipate low-profit margins in the beginning.

For your yoga studio to be successful you will likely need to invest quite a lot of money into your venture at the start. It takes time to build up a strong clientele base where you can generate a consistent and regular revenue stream to depend on. You will likely need to put in long hours and make sacrifices along the way.

If possible, try getting some insights from others who already work in the industry. They should be able to give you a more realistic idea of the costs and revenue involved.

Certification

No matter how much you think you may know about yoga, it’s always worthwhile to have some formal education and training before you begin teaching others. There are a number of different educational institutions who offer yoga teacher training. These courses will not only provide you with a thorough understanding of yoga, but they can guide you in learning the finer techniques and elements required to teach it correctly.

You can start by joining the largest international association of yoga teachers in the world – Yoga Alliance. Yoga Alliance is a US-based non-for profit professional organisation for yoga teachers. If you’re looking to open a yoga studio in Australia, Yoga Australia is the peak body for yoga in the country and a great resource for finding a registered teacher for trainers.

In the UK, the British Wheel of Yoga is your ultimate resource for yoga teacher trainers. You can also register your yoga studio through these organisations so that yoga enthusiasts can easily find your classes.

Location

Where will your yoga studio business be based? Will you lease your very own permanent residence? Hire a local hall or venue to hold your classes regularly? Perhaps you’d like to run a yoga studio from your very own home?

To work out the perfect location: Consider who your ideal audience is and where they would be located. Wherever location you choose, there are a number of other more practical elements to keep in mind.

The location you choose should:

Be convenient and easy for your clients to get

Have ample parking available.

Have public transport options nearby.

Be spacious enough to fit everybody in comfortably.

You should also make a note of other yoga studios in the area. If there’s lots of competition in the suburb, it may be difficult to pick up new clients. Consider looking in a location where the demand for yoga studios is there but the competition is sparse.

With all this in mind, you also need to choose a location that’s within your budget. Be prepared to compromise on a few of these elements if your budget is tight.

Insurance

Whether you plan to own and run a brick and mortar studio or if you only plan to teach classes now and then, insurance is necessary. Insurance will protect you just in case any of your clients become injured because of your classes.

Professional liability insurance, as well as property and contents insurance, will be needed when owning a yoga studio. When looking to purchase insurance, seek legal advice and always shop around to find a policy that suits you for the right price.

Promotion

Yoga studios are hugely popular right now. With so much competition around, it’s vital to stay ahead of the game by implementing marketing strategies of your own!

Opening a yoga studio doesn’t mean that people will show up for your class. A solid marketing strategy is needed to get your business name out there. This lets people know that your business exists, and what your business is all about!

A key element of your marketing strategy is having a website in place and building up a decent online presence. Within your website, potential clients should be able to find everything they need to know about your studio and classes. You could even make it easier for web visitors to join your classes by implementing an online sign-up and booking process.

Some other great ways to promote your yoga studio include:

Creating Social Media accounts for your yoga studio and implementing social media advertising.

Utilising SEO best practices to rank on google and promote the website further on Google via AdWords.

Letterbox drops, fliers, coupons, specials and competitions.

Yoga Studio Management Software

Have you thought about how you’re going to manage and organise members and classes effectively? Every yoga studio needs reliable yoga studio management software to do this.

At Clubworx, we’ve worked hard to create a yoga studio management software that’s intuitive, easy to use, and has all the features your looking for to make owning and running a yoga studio a lot less stressful. If you’re serious about starting your own yoga studio, make sure management software isn’t left off the to-do list because it will save you time and money in the long run.

Owning and running a successful yoga studio is hard work, but it’s a rewarding venture for many. As long as you keep this advice in mind, there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy a long and prosperous career doing what you love.

Generating leads has to be one of the most vital steps in any sales and marketing process. Whether you’re running a gym, PT or martial arts studio, you should really consider including this key element into your marketing strategy, because it’s bound to drive further growth and success for your business.

So why is lead generation so important, particularly for fitness clubs?

In this article, we will explain what lead generation is, how you can take advantage of it and why it’s so essential in the fitness industry today.

What is Lead Generation?

Lead generation is the process of collecting names and contact information from qualified prospects by capturing interest in a product or service. This contact information can then be used to convert these prospects into customers.

Essentially, it’s about getting new customers through your doors. And what business wouldn’t want to take advantage of that?

How do I Generate Leads?

There are so many ways to generate leads, many of which you’re probably using now such as newsletters, brochures, telemarketing or tradeshows, but there are even more opportunities available to you in the digital space.

The very best way to generate leads online is by implementing landing pages. Unlike a standard web page, the sole purpose of a landing page is to capture a visitor’s information with a form, and it can be either a page already on your website or a standalone page created for a particular marketing campaign.

How Do I Create a Landing Page that Generates Leads?

To create a great landing page that generates leads and will bring you more business, there are a few key features to keep in mind:

Concise & Compelling Content – Make sure to keep the content as short and sweet as possible. Think bullet points instead of large paragraphs, and pictures or video instead of text to get your point across. You want to ensure your value proposition is clear and the content is easy to read. The content must also be written in a way that will convince your audience that the proposition being made on your landing page is the right choice for them.

Lead Form – The most important element for any landing page is the lead capture form. The form should be visible and easy to fill in with only the ‘name’, ‘phone number’ and ‘email’ to fill out in most cases. The fewer fields there are to fill out, the more leads you’re likely to get.

Call to Action – A clear call to action needs to be on the page to encourage visitors to fill out the form. After reading the content and call to action on your page, every visitor should know exactly what they will get after submitting their details and they should feel compelled to take action. It also helps to include content that adds credibility to your claims such as testimonials and reviews from current members.

Simple Design – The design should be simplistic and the form should be the hero of your page. You must also make sure there are no extra links on your landing page that could distract from the ultimate goal of filling out the lead form.

Split Test – It’s also a great idea to split test your landing pages and change elements of each landing page to see which one performs better. This may include changing the headline, colours, fonts or the copy. For example, you may discover that a red ‘submit form’ button gets more clicks than a blue button, or perhaps one heading grabs the attention of your visitors more than another.

How the Fitness Industry Can Use Landing Pages to Generate Leads

No matter what fitness business you’re in, you can get a lot of benefit out of landing pages. But to reap these benefits, you first need to figure out exactly what you want the landing page to achieve.

Many gyms often opt for landing pages with the goal of gaining gym membership signups. In this scenario, customer and credit card details are collected. However, most people are wary of signing up to things and handing over their personal details right away, which is why a more subtle approach is often a good place to start.

One of the best ways to approach a lead generation marketing campaign with a landing page is to ensure a visitor will only need to fill in their name, email address and/or phone number in return for receiving an offer that’s valuable to them.

Keep in mind that whatever you’re offering in return for personal details must be of value to your audience. There are so many ways you could approach this in the fitness industry. The offer you provide could be a downloadable guide full of workout or diet tips, a free consultation or a voucher for a discounted workout session for example.

Depending on the type of fitness business you’re in, you may also want to implement multiple landing pages. For example, if you’re a fitness centre that runs various types of group fitness classes, one on one coaching and more, you may like to create a separate landing page to focus on each service area.

How Do You Get People to Visit Your Landing Page?

If your fitness studio already has a strong social media following, make sure you leverage this audience for your landing pages, and if they’re passionate about your brand, they may even spread the word about your offer by liking, sharing or commenting on your landing page post.

Often, however, advertising online is the way to go to get the level of awareness you need. A Google AdWords or Facebook ad campaign can drive highly qualified and targeted visitors to your page. If you’re wondering how much to spend on your online advertising campaign, keep in mind that each new lead is a potential new member, so make sure your ad spend is comparative to the number of new members you hope to gain from your lead generation campaign.

Collect Leads with Clubworx

Once you have your lead generation strategy sorted, you’ll be glad to know that Clubworx will be able to help make the lead generation process even easier!

We’ve been busy working away on a brand new feature that connects your lead generation landing page to our Clubworx dashboard. That means any leads generated through this page will be collected and stored in the Clubworx CRM for you to access at any time.

Watch this space for further updates on when this new feature will be implemented in the Clubworx software!

Clubworx lets you start simple & become more sophisticated over time. When you are focusing on starting your centre, you need a member management system that is simple and intuitive. Your early goals are to convert your prospects, manage your members and collect their payments. During this time, nothing matters more to your fitness business than being able to do these 3 things easily.